Pair #25 If it's not art, what is it?
I spent a year as an apprentice with Michael Neill and I can tell you there is one thing Michael knows better than anyone and that's how to tip the balance of life toward inspiration. When you consider that many of us struggle to get out of perspiration and into inspiration even for a short minute it’s a source of hope to watch Michael proving there's another way.
The quirky thing about Michael’s brand of inspired is that he works very hard at it. In an effortless kind of way. Now, I don’t propose that Michael’s or anyone’s life as the “THE formula” but it’s certainly worth thinking about this.
More often than not the idea of "Living an Inspired Life" sounds like a spiritual or artsy or deeply cool -but faraway thing. But real inspiration, funnily enough, might just be mundane. Rather than the big bang that will finally hit you and reveal your life purpose and the secrets of the universe... in practice it might be more like: "Yay! I woke up today! What Next?"
And here's the thing about people who are genuinely thrilled by waking up again so they can do the things they enjoy... very often they are also successful. Or maybe I should put it this way, successful people seem to also love what they do.
So which comes first? How many of us are hoping the success is what will bring us the satisfaction?
I think living inspired is a minor art. And ‘inspired’ is a terrible word for it really. It’s just not the getting-psyched-up and be-a-go-getter thing, nor does it mean I put a flower behind my right ear and dedicate my life to verse - from what I can tell it is the simple art of genuinely falling in love with your life.
Then, of course, it all goes slightly wonky.. because when you are in love with your life, hard work can be a big part of it. Sometimes you toil hard and you sweat. Other times you rest and float. Maybe you don’t so much balance between % inspiration and %perspiration, as allowing inspiration to decide what’s worth sweating over while you've got that smile on your face.
The quirky thing about Michael’s brand of inspired is that he works very hard at it. In an effortless kind of way. Now, I don’t propose that Michael’s or anyone’s life as the “THE formula” but it’s certainly worth thinking about this.
More often than not the idea of "Living an Inspired Life" sounds like a spiritual or artsy or deeply cool -but faraway thing. But real inspiration, funnily enough, might just be mundane. Rather than the big bang that will finally hit you and reveal your life purpose and the secrets of the universe... in practice it might be more like: "Yay! I woke up today! What Next?"
And here's the thing about people who are genuinely thrilled by waking up again so they can do the things they enjoy... very often they are also successful. Or maybe I should put it this way, successful people seem to also love what they do.
So which comes first? How many of us are hoping the success is what will bring us the satisfaction?
I think living inspired is a minor art. And ‘inspired’ is a terrible word for it really. It’s just not the getting-psyched-up and be-a-go-getter thing, nor does it mean I put a flower behind my right ear and dedicate my life to verse - from what I can tell it is the simple art of genuinely falling in love with your life.
Then, of course, it all goes slightly wonky.. because when you are in love with your life, hard work can be a big part of it. Sometimes you toil hard and you sweat. Other times you rest and float. Maybe you don’t so much balance between % inspiration and %perspiration, as allowing inspiration to decide what’s worth sweating over while you've got that smile on your face.
Hear Michael on the radio show this Friday, May 7th, live at 10 am Pacific as we talk about waving goodbye to money fear.
(if you miss it, go here for the archive after the show)
(if you miss it, go here for the archive after the show)
© 2010 Elese Coit
If you wish to reprint, feel free, please link back here and if it's of use, include:
"Elese Coit is a leader in transformative personal change and Hosts the Radio Show A New Way To Handle Absolutely Everything. To see the world differently, reach for one of her '101 New Pairs of Glasses' each day on http://elesecoit.com"
Thank you.
If you wish to reprint, feel free, please link back here and if it's of use, include:
"Elese Coit is a leader in transformative personal change and Hosts the Radio Show A New Way To Handle Absolutely Everything. To see the world differently, reach for one of her '101 New Pairs of Glasses' each day on http://elesecoit.com"
Thank you.
